Trump wants National Guard on Mexican border until wall built

[webfact]

Trump wants National Guard on Mexican border until wall built

By Jeff Mason

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he departs the White House for a trip to Lewisburg, West Virginia, in Washington D.C., U.S. April 5, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

 

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would probably station a few thousand National Guard troops at the 2,000-mile-long (3,200-km) Mexican border until the wall he wants to build there to keep out illegal immigrants is done.

 

No funding for the entirety of Trump's proposed wall is currently in place. Both the Mexican government and the U.S. Congress so far have refused to fully pay for it. Trump vowed as a candidate that he would get Mexico to pay for his wall.

 

Hounded by headlines about alleged affairs with various women and a continuing probe of possible collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia, Trump has recently escalated the anti-immigrant rhetoric that helped him get elected.

 

In a storm of Tweets this week, he has warned that illegal immigrants are threatening U.S. security and jobs, a theme that has resonated in the past with conservative Republican voters.

 

Trump last month signed a federal spending bill from Congress that contained $1.6 billion to pay for six months of work on his wall. He had asked for $25 billion for it.

 

En route back to Washington from an event in West Virginia where he talked about the 2017 Republican tax overhaul, Trump was asked by reporters how many National Guard troops he wanted at the border. He said: "Anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000."

 

He said the administration was looking at the costs. "It depends on what we do," he said. "We’re looking from 2,000 to 4,000 and probably keep them, or ... a large portion of them, until such time as we get the wall."

 

The deployment was likely to aggravate tensions with Mexico, a key U.S. ally that has already expressed concern.

 

On Wednesday, the administration said it was coordinating with the governors of the four U.S. states that border on Mexico on deploying the Guard, a reserve wing of the U.S. armed forces that is partly under the supervision of state governors.

 

The Guard would not be involved in law enforcement, but would assist U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel with stopping illegal immigrants from entering the country, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Wednesday.

 

The Pentagon said it set up a Border Security Support Cell "to ensure we surge our capacity to meet the president's enhanced border security goals," said a Pentagon spokeswoman.

 

Speaking with reporters at a press briefing on Thursday, Pentagon officials said they did not yet know where funding for sending Guard troops to the border would come from.

 

They said other details were still unknown, such as how many troops would be deployed and whether they would be armed.

 

A Pentagon spokeswoman said the military was looking into possibly building a wall at its Barry Goldwater Air Force Range in the desert in Arizona along the Mexican border.

 

The administration's move has drawn criticism from Democrats. "At a time when apprehensions of migrants on our southern border are at a near 50-year low, deploying National Guard troops to the border is far from a logical effort," Democratic Senator Tom Carper said in a statement.

 

"It is imperative that this administration sit down with leaders in Congress on both sides of the aisle who want real solutions to our immigration challenges, rather than using political ploys to fire up President Trump’s base and distract from growing controversy," Carper said.

 

(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali in Washington; editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Peter Cooney and James Dalgleish)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-06

[lovelomsak]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

They said other details were still unknown, such as how many troops would be deployed and whether they would be armed.

I sure hope they are armed. How can they shoot them with out guns?

[Andaman Al]

I think there could be a "slight" drop in recruitment levels and an issue with retention in the National Guard.

Edited April 6, 2018 by Andaman Al

[alex8912]

2 hours ago, car720 said:

Smoke and mirrors.  Aimed at the ignorant masses.

They have been doing this forever in Australia.  Whenever they want to cover something up or pass what they really want through parliament they always make press releases about the social security cheats that are robbing the normal workers.  Everyone gets up on their high horse and is totally oblivious to what is really happening.  Oldest trick in the political book.

The topic is about protecting a border between two countries. What one does AUS  need to protect??? 

[sukhumvitneon]

In any event, it's a better use of armed forces than, say, deploying them to Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan.

[FritsSikkink]

These 1 or 2 people per mile will make a huge difference 

[NanLaew]

2 hours ago, alex8912 said:

The topic is about protecting a border between two countries. What one does AUS  need to protect??? 

And car720's comment was about the obfuscation and deflections that most governments throw out for the media to broadcast when said governments are faced with delivering, or otherwise, on fanciful electioneering 'promises'.

 

The clue to his thrust was his opener, "smoke and mirrors".

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, sukhumvitneon said:

In any event, it's a better use of armed forces than, say, deploying them to Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan.

Hasn't he just announced the extraction of all US forces from Syria?

 

I guess he can send them south of the border, down Mexico way instead of bothering the weekend soldiers, second-job dads and Walmart shelf-stackers from the National Guard.

[Srikcir]

15 hours ago, webfact said:

No funding for the entirety of Trump's proposed wall is currently in place.

Actually there is no money for Trump's proposed wall.

"The new budget includes $1.6bn for barriers along the border, money that is not authorized to be used on the wall prototypes" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/22/senate-vote-spending-bill-republicans

The budget covers replacing existing fencing and installing some new in-kind fencing.

 

No budget for Trump's "impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall"

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37243269

 

[Grumpy Duck]

This is a joke. First, National Guard troops are under the command of each states governor, and I doubt the states will desire to eat that cost. But he does in the event of marshal law have the power to activate guard and reserves to enforce civil law. One or 2 national guardsmen to patrol a one mile post? 

 

What was Mexicos response to his insults & threats? Negotiations with Argentina and Brazil to replace the billions of dollars of corn, rice, soybeans and other farm products imported from US farmers. 

 

Just imagine the losses to be suffered in a trade war with mexico. All those corporate losses to companies that sent jobs to mexico to save a few labor dollars.